Rhysel arrived at the classroom her usual fifteen minutes early, and began to unload a variety of items from her satchel - a few pieces of fruit, some sculptures she'd done, a couple of interestingly shaped rocks and pieces of wood, and the like.

Tekaal arrived ten minutes before class was due to start. "Models for image magic?" he guessed.

"Yup," she said, giving him a kiss by way of greeting. "I expect Lutan will be ahead of everyone else on this lesson."

"No doubt, but she's the sort who benefits from repetition, so I don't think it will present a problem. How did your sessions yesterday go?" Tekaal asked.

"Overall, pretty well. Working with Leekath is definitely unusual though."

"Is it?"

"You're familiar with the rock excercises - she went through almost all of them without my having to explain to her how they worked - she picked up the information from the rock itself."

He blinked at her. "Really?"

"Yes. Apparently, however those voices she hears in her head work, they explained how to do it."

He looked unsettled, but said nothing.

"Definitely an unusual phenomenon," Rhysel continued.

Tekaal nodded slowly, turning his attention to the props Rhysel had brought in. There were enough for two for each student.

At that moment Kaylo walked in, strode rapidly up to Rhysel, and handed her three sheets of paper clipped together with neatly bulleted questions written on them. "Here," he said.

Rhysel flipped through the papers with a mix of surprise and interest. "You don't waste time, do you, Kaylo?" she asked, smiling as she looked up from the papers to glance at the boy.

He shook his head, a serious expression on his face.

There were probably about twenty questions on the papers. Three caught Rhysel's eye as she flipped through the papers again.

4. In what way does a manifestation of the light aspect of fire differ from an illusion of same?

11. Which sorts of properties of a tone are common to all kama and which differ from one individual to another?

18. Is the matter in a rock made with kamai Lialenan, transformed, or created?

Rhysel looked up to Kaylo again. "I think I'll go over this one in class today," she said, indicating the question about illusion fire. "We can go over the others later. Thank you," she added after a moment.

"You're welcome," he said, sitting down.

"These are some good questions, I can see you put a lot of thought into it."

Tekaal peered at the list. "Lialenan?"

Kaylo smiled innocently. "You read the Abek Journal of Theory, don't you, Ar Kithen?" he asked.

"I do," Tekaal replied mildly. "I didn't know you did."

"I confess, the word means nothing to me," Rhysel said.

"It's a very new theory," said Tekaal. "There's some good support for it, but the question still presumes a lot by including it as an option."

"I think the evidence is all but incontrovertible," replied the dragon, leaning back in his seat. "The only problem with it as an explanation for a kamai-created rock is that it would mean Barashi has transworld magic, which it otherwise hasn't that we know of."

"So Lialenan is material from another world?" said Rhysel.

"Lialen," said Tekaal, "is a theoretical world - or possibly a set of planes, one attached to each world - which holds a lot of accessible spare matter. The original paper in the Abek Journal suggested it as a holding location for extra matter dispensed with in shapeshifting, but the theory could easily apply to a variety of other things, including creating rocks."

"Interesting," Rhysel said, her expression mirroring her exclamation. "Creating a rock with kamai doesn't fall under that category, though. The explanation's a bit complicated, however, so I don't think I could adequately explain it before class starts."

Korulen and Lutan came in and chose seats.

Rhysel waved cheerfully to the two girls as she spoke with Kaylo. "How far advanced are you in maths?"

"Do you mean how good am I at it, or how much of it have I studied?"

"Both, actually."

"It's not my best subject - theory is - but I know enough to have taken eighth tier physics last year," the dragon boy replied.

Rhysel nodded. "You're familiar with calculus, then?"

"Passing familiar, yes."

"Good. You'll need to be to understand the answers to some of this." She lightly tapped the papers in her hand, still rather impressed.

He nodded.

Ngen walked in, followed shortly by Melrid and Jenar.

Rhysel waved to the newcomers, taking the papers up with her to the front of the class. She slid them into her satchel, giving Kaylo one more smile before she did so.

He smiled back, a trifle smugly.

Rhysel waited for the other students to arrive.

They trickled in; Riseth arrived a trifle late. Tekaal noted this in his attendance book.

"Would everyone please come up to the front and select an item from the ones on the table here, please," Rhysel asked, starting off. "We're going to discuss the basics of image kamai."

The students formed something resembling a line and took their pick of objects, returning to their seats one at a time.

Once they were all seated again she asked, "Who can tell me the process one goes through to create handfire?"

A few hands were raised - Korulen's, Kutran's, Jenar's, Delasis's, and Kaylo's.

"Korulen," she said, as the thudia had tied with the dragon for first hand in the air.

"You send the energy through the tone of fire that has to do with its light output," Korulen answered. "It's the highest note, or the grainy texture or the sweet taste."

Rhysel nodded. "Correct, thank you. You should all be versed in this by now." She conjured up a ball of handfire, arranging for it to float to one side of her. "Can anyone guess as to the difference between this," she indicated the handfire, "and this?" She conjured up another ball of fire, apparently identical in appearance, which she set to float to her other side.

"That one's on the left," muttered Jenar to Melrid. They laughed softly, and Rhysel let the chatter pass without comment.

Kolaan looked around, realizes that no one was raising a hand, and put up his own, slowly.

"Kolaan," said Rhysel.

"The lifeforce pull was a little different," he said. "I think."

She nodded with satisfaction, "Yes, that's part of it." She pointed to the second ball of fire. "This is illusory fire made with image kamai. Something you will notice fairly often as you learn more about kamai is that there is often more than one way to produce the same effect - or nearly the same. In this case, the difference lies almost entirely in how it's made. Image kamai is slightly less draining, and the energy draw on your lifeforce is, as Kolaan said, a little different as well. There is one other difference - as the ball of handfire is a manifestation of one tone of fire, the other tones can be added into it, and it can become real, complete fire. This illusory fire cannot. It will never burn anything, no matter how real it appears."

She paused for a moment to see if anyone had a question before continuing.

Kaylo looked thoughtful, but no one offered any questions.

"In many ways, creating a visual illusion is similar to creating handfire. The main difference is, instead of finding a tone or set of tones to focus the energy through, the focus is an image in your mind. Each of you has an object in front of you. Take a few minutes to study it in detail."

The students picked up their objects and turned them over, peering at them.

Rhysel gave them several minutes to get the feel of their objects. "Now picture that object in your mind - get a good image of it in your head. You may check the image in your mind against your model if you feel uncertain of it."

Most of the students closed their eyes. Some of them looked like they were blinking a lot, closing their eyes and then checking on the object again repeatedly.

"Once you've got a good feel of it, push the energy through the image in your mind, just as you did when you pushed the energy through the handfire tone."

Lutan produced an illusion immediately. The rest of the class gradually brought into existence images of their objects. Kaylo's eyes drooped briefly, and his replica appeared in his hand rather than floating ahead of him like those of the other students.

Rhysel noticed this difference, and mentally inspected Kaylo's illusion object, although she refrains from comment. Once the class had all created a reasonably accurate image, she said, "Well done. You can either exchange objects with another student, or come select a new one from the front of the room. Once you've acquired a new subject, please repeat the process."

Korulen and Lutan traded, as did Kutran and Soraak, and Melrid and Jenar. Fan and Delasis made as if to trade, but then decided they didn't like each other's objects and joined the other students at the front desk.

Most of the students were faster this time, although Lutan was still first by a hair. Kaylo's illusion was, again, a solid.

Once the entire group had run through the process again, Rhysel said, "Now, please, visualize something in your mind that isn't in this room. Get a good feel of it, then repeat the exercise once more."

"Can it be alive?" asked Kutran.

"Yes," she said. "Assuming you're asking if what you're visualizing can be living. The illusion, of course, won't be, even if the subject is."

The students created various illusory objects; Kutran and a few others opted to visualize animals, and Fan chose a houseplant. Kaylo yet again ended up with a solid illusion - he had, for some reason, reproduced a glass jar labeled "Nut Butter".

Rhysel had moved around the classroom as the students worked, and she deliberately positioned herself by Kaylo for this last exercise. "Interesting choice, Kaylo," she said softly.

He shrugged. "More interesting than a graphite stick," he said, inclining his head in Riseth's direction. The leonine had indeed chosen a graphite stick, a slender black cylinder with no interesting features.

Rhysel grinned at the dragon. "I expect our Inen session will be rather interesting," she said, tapping the edge of his illusory jar lightly. She looked around at the rest of the class. "Does anyone wish to hazard a guess as to why your illusions are transparent to some degree?"

Lutan, whose images were quite opaque, raised her hand.

"Yes, Lutan, go ahead."

"Their images are hollow," she said. "The surface is very thin and it can be seen through a little. It's also because opacity needs more energy."

Lukal, whose attempts were practically invisible, pouted a little at her ever-so-slightly superior tone.

Rhysel nodded agreement. "Correct, Lutan. Those of you who have been to my sessions, and I assume at least some of you who have been to Ar Kithen's, worked with the other tones of fire, combining them as well as working with each separately. You may have noticed that handfire required the least amount of energy to pull from, while the other tones took slightly more. Image kamai works much the same way - the outer surface takes the least amount of energy. Since the analogy I used for the energy pull was to compare it to handfire, it's quite natural that your images will be transparent to some degree or another. Revisualize your image, but imagine it as more than just a surface layer. Then try creating it again."

The students all dutifully dismissed and recreated their images. All of them were at least a little more opaque than before, except Lutan's, which was about as opaque as an image could get. Some of the others achieve similar degrees of opacity on this attempt as well.

Rhysel looked to see if any of the other students are having problems or questions.

Most of them seemed to be doing just fine on their illusions, although Tekaal was quietly offering advice over Fan's shoulder.

The halfblood waited until Tekaal is finished speaking to Fan before asking aloud, "Any questions?" No one had anything further to add. "Very well. If at all possible, make sure you've eaten a good breakfast before our next class. Among other things, we'll be going over drain, and a good meal will help. Those of you in my one-on-one sessions, be prepared to demonstrate an illusion when you come. Class dismissed."

The students gathered their belongings and shuffled out, chatting with one another.

Rhseyl collected the items she'd brought, stowing them away in her satchel and waiting in the room a few minutes to see if anyone wished to approach her after class.

No one seemed inclined to hang back of their own accord.

Once the last student had left, she looked to Tekaal. "How did I do?"

"Very nicely," he said approvingly.

"Thank you," she said, clearly relieved. "Anything I did particularly well, or that I could improve on?"

"It's probably not ideal to ask students things that they haven't all covered," he said. "That question Aran Urelaal answered isn't something anyone else could have responded to; they're apt to think you're singling people out."

She nodded. "That hadn't occurred to me. I didn't actually expect Kolaan to be paying that close enough attention so that he'd notice. I figured that by saying we'd be covering image kamai today that someone would have at least ventured it was illusory and actually applied to today's topic. I guess I'll have to watch that in the future."

He smiled at her. "You'll get the hang of it."

"Hopefully before I alienate the entire class," she quipped.

"It's unlikely to alienate anyone," he said. "Unless it's a long-term practice. Most teaching errors are like that - they make little difference unless compounded. You have time."

She nodded, then changed the subject. "Dinner at my place tonight? Been a few days since I've cooked anything substantial."

"By all means," he said happily.

She smiled at him. "Good. It's nice being able to spend an evening with you without your having to leave partway through," she said teasingly.

Tekaal chuckled. "Then I shouldn't audition for "North Rising" in six weeks?"

She laughed. "While I enjoy having you around, I would never ask you to not try out for something."

"Good, because I have wanted to play Sirran Abao since I was thirty-eight."

"Sirran Abao?"

"He's the male lead in "North Rising". He has some very beautiful solos."

"Somehow, I expect that, if you audition, you'll get the part."

"It is moderately likely."

She grinned at him. "I hope it won't disrupt things if I attend. The performance, that is, not the audition."

"Of course it won't."

"I'd best head up to my office before my session's due to start." She shook her head slightly, "My office. That still seems odd."

"Yes, I seem to recaal Aralan Aanilen scheduled her appointment for a few minutes after this class," he agreed, referring to Kutran. "Most likely so she doesn't need to make separate trips from town."

"I expect so. Kutran doesn't exactly live close to the school. Regardless, though, I'd better get moving. See you about five?"

"Of course," he told her, kissing her goodbye.

Rhysel returned his kiss, adding a soft "Love you" as she headed for the door.

"I love you too," he replied as she left, smiling after her.

She took the lift to the hall with her office in it.

---

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